When designing their hybrid courses, the research participants emphasized the importance of critically re-examining course goals and learning objectives, even if they had taught the same course previously in the traditional format. One said she was a “believer” in focusing on course goals: “What do you want them to learn and how do you want them to learn it?” The hybrid format demanded even more reflection because two learning “spaces” needed to be considered. One research participant said you can’t just “divide it [the course] in half” and another elaborated on this part of the course redesign process:
I went through and really thought about what are the learning goals of the course, what are the things that we do to lead to those goals, and then what are the best ways would each of those mini-goals best be facilitated, online or face-to-face.
Another instructor summarized, “Goals and objectives must come first in developing any course…I feel that connecting the online and face-to-face activities needed attention because they need coordination in order to be integrated into a unified whole.” When discussing course design, instructors concurred that it was “time consuming” but essential “because it is a conscious decision-making process” of deciding which lesson plans work best online or face-to-face. Findings indicate that faculty found that the process of reexamining their learning goals and objectives was critical to developing a successful hybrid course
Online or Face-to-Face
Redesigning a traditional course into a hybrid course compelled faculty to think through how best to use two learning spaces instead of just one. “I really just had to reconfigure the class to include, or to sort through, what I was going to do online and what I was going to do face-to-face.” After reflecting on their goals, the research participants used a variety of methods to decide which environment to use for which learning activities.
Instructors tended to use the online environment for work that students could do “on their own,” such as assessments, tutorials, readings, and quizzes. Some of the instructors who were new to hybrid teaching felt that it would be a "waste of face-to-face class time" to do these things in the classroom. Other instructors saved activities for the in-person class that required “interaction” and to address “issues or misconceptions that popped up in the online discussion.” For example, one instructor used the face-to-face environment to introduce a complex essay critique assignment. Then she followed up online by reading the students’ essays, answering critical reading questions, and drafting a summary. Face-to-face was also used to present visual information like film clips, provide demonstrations, conduct hands-on activities like labs, conduct group activities and student presentations, give lectures, answer questions, and give exams. Findings indicate that the majority of instructors used the face-to-face environment to present information needing context and explain interpretations to facilitate better student understanding. In contrast, the online environment was used for information that was independent in nature or was clearly conveyed and easily facilitated in the online environment
An essential component to a successful blend is a set of clear learning objectives, how those learning objectives are going to be assessed, and which environment (face-to-face or online) would be most effective. Successive iterations of a blended course should reconsider the language, aims, and focus of its learning objectives based on the demonstrable integration of online and face-to-face activities.
2.) How can one identify and build upon the successful elements of learning objectives in the blended model? Specifically, was the learning environment (face-to-face or online) appropriate for the assigned activity and achievement of each learning objective? Did it provide the evidence or documentation that the learning objective was met?
Integration and backwards design are the two important factors.
What is a learning objective (learning goal)? -S-M-A-R-T - Specific, Measurable, Actionalble, Realistic, Time-limited By the end of this course the student will be able... -Goals need to be appropriate for the level that you are teaching -KSA - Knowledge - Skills - Attitudes -Role Play - Designers and learners. Goal is for both to learn from the process/scenarios -Focus on outcomes of specifric skills...Example: Want students to become fearless in their use of techmnnology Want the students to dissect the information that makes the whole. -Outcome focus - start with the end in mind.
No two words in the English language mean the same thing...Goals/Outcomes/Objectives. -Are these terms the same? Different? Goals/Objectives/Outcomes. -Objectives might be shorter term--for the episode of learning - that day/week. -Goals are longer term for the entire course. -Objectives might guide the student toward the end of the course, but also serve to take the student to the next step...ongoing. -Objectives lead us to goal achievement. Goals include what the students and teachers are going to achieve. -Objectives are the most granular... --If I am going to design learning around a specific topic...At the end of this module the student should be able to do... -Essential learning outcomes: --Objectives are sub-sets and are consistent with the learning outcomes.
How do you go about helping faculty to work to meet the course objectives? --Let the students themselves go back and read the objectives and define whether they have achieved them. --Operationalization of the objectives. --Based on S-M-A-R-T - Use of the word understanding: I've been told that we cannot measure understanding.
Finish this sentence: By the end of the course the student will be able to...(using active verbs)
Backwards design...look at what I have done traditionally, and then define the best method to approach those same objectives in the blended environment.
-We murder to dissect: When we break something down into it's individual parts we kill it. --Goal is to teach teachers to use the internet in their teaching. In the process of teaching we kill the desire to use the technology in the learning. We're losing the complexity of learning... --Learning rarely progresses in an orderly manner
When designing their hybrid courses, the research participants emphasized the
importance of critically re-examining course goals and learning objectives, even if they had
taught the same course previously in the traditional format. One said she was a “believer” in
focusing on course goals: “What do you want them to learn and how do you want them to learn
it?” The hybrid format demanded even more reflection because two learning “spaces” needed to
be considered. One research participant said you can’t just “divide it [the course] in half” and
another elaborated on this part of the course redesign process:
I went through and really thought about what are the learning goals of the course, what
are the things that we do to lead to those goals, and then what are the best ways would
each of those mini-goals best be facilitated, online or face-to-face.
Another instructor summarized, “Goals and objectives must come first in developing any
course…I feel that connecting the online and face-to-face activities needed attention because
they need coordination in order to be integrated into a unified whole.” When discussing course
design, instructors concurred that it was “time consuming” but essential “because it is a
conscious decision-making process” of deciding which lesson plans work best online or face-to-face. Findings indicate that faculty found that the process of reexamining their learning goals and
objectives was critical to developing a successful hybrid course
Online or Face-to-Face
Redesigning a traditional course into a hybrid course compelled faculty to think through
how best to use two learning spaces instead of just one. “I really just had to reconfigure the class
to include, or to sort through, what I was going to do online and what I was going to do face-to-face.” After reflecting on their goals, the research participants used a variety of methods to
decide which environment to use for which learning activities.
Instructors tended to use the online environment for work that students could do “on their
own,” such as assessments, tutorials, readings, and quizzes. Some of the instructors who were
new to hybrid teaching felt that it would be a "waste of face-to-face class time" to do these things
in the classroom. Other instructors saved activities for the in-person class that required
“interaction” and to address “issues or misconceptions that popped up in the online discussion.”
For example, one instructor used the face-to-face environment to introduce a complex essay
critique assignment. Then she followed up online by reading the students’ essays, answering
critical reading questions, and drafting a summary. Face-to-face was also used to present visual
information like film clips, provide demonstrations, conduct hands-on activities like labs,
conduct group activities and student presentations, give lectures, answer questions, and give
exams. Findings indicate that the majority of instructors used the face-to-face environment to
present information needing context and explain interpretations to facilitate better student
understanding. In contrast, the online environment was used for information that was
independent in nature or was clearly conveyed and easily facilitated in the online environment
An essential component to a successful blend is a set of clear learning objectives, how those learning objectives are going to be assessed, and which environment (face-to-face or online) would be most effective. Successive iterations of a blended course should reconsider the language, aims, and focus of its learning objectives based on the demonstrable integration of online and face-to-face activities.
2.) How can one identify and build upon the successful elements of learning objectives in the blended model? Specifically, was the learning environment (face-to-face or online) appropriate for the assigned activity and achievement of each learning objective? Did it provide the evidence or documentation that the learning objective was met?
Integration and backwards design are the two important factors.
What is a learning objective (learning goal)?
-S-M-A-R-T - Specific, Measurable, Actionalble, Realistic, Time-limited
By the end of this course the student will be able...
-Goals need to be appropriate for the level that you are teaching
-KSA - Knowledge - Skills - Attitudes
-Role Play - Designers and learners. Goal is for both to learn from the process/scenarios
-Focus on outcomes of specifric skills...Example: Want students to become fearless in their use of techmnnology
Want the students to dissect the information that makes the whole.
-Outcome focus - start with the end in mind.
No two words in the English language mean the same thing...Goals/Outcomes/Objectives.
-Are these terms the same? Different? Goals/Objectives/Outcomes.
-Objectives might be shorter term--for the episode of learning - that day/week.
-Goals are longer term for the entire course.
-Objectives might guide the student toward the end of the course, but also serve to take the student to the next step...ongoing.
-Objectives lead us to goal achievement. Goals include what the students and teachers are going to achieve.
-Objectives are the most granular...
--If I am going to design learning around a specific topic...At the end of this module the student should be able to do...
-Essential learning outcomes:
--Objectives are sub-sets and are consistent with the learning outcomes.
How do you go about helping faculty to work to meet the course objectives?
--Let the students themselves go back and read the objectives and define whether they have achieved them.
--Operationalization of the objectives.
--Based on S-M-A-R-T - Use of the word understanding: I've been told that we cannot measure understanding.
Finish this sentence: By the end of the course the student will be able to...(using active verbs)
Backwards design...look at what I have done traditionally, and then define the best method to approach those same objectives in the blended environment.
-We murder to dissect: When we break something down into it's individual parts we kill it.
--Goal is to teach teachers to use the internet in their teaching. In the process of teaching we kill the desire to use the technology in the learning.
We're losing the complexity of learning...
--Learning rarely progresses in an orderly manner